| Background In the view of obstetrician-gynecologists, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and endometrial cancer are the major malignancies affecting women. Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of mortality among them due to many aspects of its natural history, particularly the lack of recognized symptoms in early stage. The pathogenesis of ovarian cancer is intricate. However, with the study of ovarian cancer going deeper and deeper, cytokines have been increasingly considered to be an important element in its pathogenesis. For example, overexpression of growth factors and their receptors, such as epidermal growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor and insulin-like growth factor, has been proved by recent studies to be pertinent to the carcinomatous change of cells, which may be mattered with their specific autocrine and paracrine. That is also why growth factors and their receptors have been one of the highlights in recent years' study of ovarian cancerLike other growth factors, insulin-like growth factor(IGF) has extensive biological effect and plays an important role in proliferation, conversion and the progression of cancer. The clinical investigation showed that the overexpression of IGFs is closely related to the progression of cancer and, the overexpression of IGFs and its receptors is found in most malignant tumors. The expression rate of IGF-I and IGF-I mRNA in hepatocarcinoma detected through DNA-RNA hybridization in situtechnique amounts to 40-50 percent. But so far, domestic report on the expression of IGFs and its receptors in ovarian cancer tissue hasn' t been seen. So it is considered worthwhile to be explored.Objective The objective of our study was to investigate the relationship between the expression of IGF-I, IGF-II, IGF-I receptor and the pathogenesis, invasion, metastasis of epithelial ovarian cancer.Method 30 paraffin embedded samples from epithelial ovarian cancers were selected. IGF-I, IGF-II and IGF-I receptor were detected by using Immunohistochemistry. 31 benign epithelial ovarian tumor tissues and 16 normal ovary tissues were used as controls, x2- test is employed to process the experimental data.Result 1) The expression of IGF-I, IGF-II and IGF-I receptor was all significantly higher in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues than that in benign epithelial ovarian tumor tissues and normal ovary tissues, and was related to lymph node metastasis but not to pathological type (serious and mucinous) and clinical stage(FIGO). And 2) the expression of IGF-I and IGF-II was found in plasma of cells, while the IGF-I receptor was in plasma and membrane of cells. The role of IGF-I and IGF-II is carried out through IGF-I receptor.Conclusion The overexpression of IGF-I, IGF-II and IGF-I receptor in epithelial ovarian cancer plays an important role in the pathogenesis, progression and invasion.Background: Ovarian cancer claims the lives of more women than all other gynecologic malignancies combined. The high fatality-to-case ratio associated with ovarian cancer is liked to the lack of a recognizable pattern of symptoms in its early stages, the low prevalence in the general population, and the very low predictive values of currently available screening modalities. Meanwhile, the anatomic location of the ovaries is not amenable to any direct inspection. 60%~70% women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed with advanced-stage disease, and survival at 5 years is poor at 20%~30%. Alternatively, in women fortunate enough to have early disease detection, with malignancy confined within the ovary, a 85%~95% survival rate can be anticipated. It is very important to improve our methods in early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.There is no good screening test for ovarian cancer. To find effective screening tests, a great deal of work has been done by a lot of researchers. Optimal screening protocols include tests that if applied for population-based screening, are cost-effective, sensitive, and specific, have acceptable positive and negative predictive values, and are risk-free. Methods that have been extensively explored for ovarian cancer screening have included tumor markers, such as CA-125, CEA, AFP, HCG, TPA and LSA, and transvaginal ultrasound. Serum CA-125 has been the tumor marker most extensively studied in ovarian cancer screening. Interest in this marker as a screening modality was initiated when it was discoveredthat serum levels of CA-125 were elevated in most women with advanced ovarian cancer. Subsequently, other studies furnished encouraging evidence that CA-125 levels might demonstrate a rising pattern for some period of time before the development of clinically apparent ovarian cancer. Despite these findings, the utility of CA-125 to detect preclinical ovarian cancer is limited by both lack of sensitivity in early stage and poor specificity in that the marker is elevated in numerous benign and malignant conditions (such as uterine cancer, cervical cancer, germinoma, menstrual phase, and endometriosis).Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) have the function of accelerating cell proliferation, differentiation and metabolism. More and more studies have indicated that there is a close relationship between the abnormal level of IGFs in blood or tissues and malignant tumors (mainly epithelial cancers such as large intestine cancer, breast cancer). Present materials showed this correlation was clear. It is suggested that serum level of IGFs might be used predicting high-risk group and making early diagnosis in malignancies.Objectives: To quantitify the level of IGF-I , IGF-II in serum and to assess their value as tumor activity markers in epithelial ovarian cancer.Methods: The serum levels of IGF-I and IGF-II were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) in 23 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, 29 patients with benign epithelial ovarian tumor and 24 healthy women. Meanwhile, the serum level of CA-125 measured by using radioimmunoassay (RIA). 10 serum samples of the patients with epithelial ovarian cancer were measured, who were followed post-operatively a quarter year. Student' t-test was employed to process the above experimental data. Results of p^O. 05 were considered statistically significant. |
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